On the morning of August 24, 2023 local time, President Xi Jinping met with Iranian President Seyyed Ebrahim Raisi on the sidelines of the BRICS Summit in Johannesburg.

Xi Jinping congratulated Iran on becoming a member of BRICS, stressing that it is a historic event that the BRICS Summit, with joint efforts of all parties, has made the decision to expand the membership. All the new members are countries with important influence. Xi Jinping expressed his confidence that they will have a major impact on the world. China is ready to work with Iran to strengthen cooperation on multilateral platforms including BRICS, and push for sound and resilient development of multilateralism.

Xi Jinping pointed out that since President Raisi's successful visit to China in February this year, relevant government departments of the two countries have wasted no time in implementing the common understandings he had reached with President Raisi, achieving positive results. Xi Jinping said that he is glad that with joint efforts of China, Iran and Saudi Arabia, Iran and Saudi Arabia have achieved reconciliation, bringing greater security and stability to the Middle East. China is ready to work with Iran to consolidate friendship, deepen mutual trust, continue to support each other on issues concerning their respective core interests, and strive for greater achievements in the China-Iran comprehensive strategic partnership.

Raisi said that Iran highly appreciates and thanks China for supporting Iran in becoming a full member of BRICS, which will provide fresh momentum for the development of Iran-China relations. This is conducive to strengthening cooperation between the two countries on multilateral platforms, and will also help better advance the implementation of the Global Development Initiative, the Global Security Initiative and the Global Civilization Initiative put forth by President Xi Jinping. President Raisi thanked President Xi for his important role in promoting dialogue and reconciliation between Iran and Saudi Arabia, and said that BRICS expansion shows that unilateralism is going downhill. Iran's determination to deepen the Iran-China comprehensive strategic partnership is unswerving, and Iran is ready to make joint efforts with China to further strengthen the comprehensive strategic cooperation between the two countries and actively advance Belt and Road cooperation.

Cai Qi and Wang Yi, among others, were present at the meeting.